Michael Humphrey, who has not filed yet, is running for a seat on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Board of Education. He and his family entered a float in the Golden Days Grand Parade last weekend in Fairbanks, and won the award for Best Political float.
“I ordered it off of a website that they manufactured them overseas and gave them my logo, and they, they sent it to me in three days,” Humphrey says.
The 20-foot walrus sported the nametag “Johnny,” which Humphrey says is from the book “Johnny the Walrus,” by blogger and commentator Matt Walsh.
“The people who already knew about Johnny can appreciate it and those who didn't can can learn a little bit more,” Humphrey said.
The “Johnny the Walrus” book talks about a boy who imagines he is something he is not, and his mother, feeling peer pressure, tries to transform him, until Walsh, as a zookeeper, tells her Johnny is just a boy.
After the parade, a controversy erupted on social media with many Fairbanksans saying the book is a message against LGBTQ+ people, and the float is, also.
“That float does not represent the values of the Chamber or any of the employees or the guest judges,” Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce CEO Jeremy Johnson said.
Johnson says parade judges only saw the walrus as an Alaskan animal, appropriate for the parade. They even thought Humphrey was cleverly referring to his own mustache.
Johnson says he’s received emails saying the Chamber of Commerce supports hateful ideas, with angry comments to employees.
Johnsons says the Chamber does not endorse candidates, and will talk more about the parade entry at a regular board meeting on Monday.
“This is gonna be a topic of discussion, whether this float judging category should even be included, particularly (since) Chamber is a nonpartisan organization. We don't want to appear as though we're endorsing a candidate or, or any of their positions,” Johnson said.
“ I don't see this as an endorsement from the Chamber or anybody else. It's simply we put a lot of hard work into the float and we we're awarded with the first place because of it,” Humphrey says.
Humphrey said he did not intend his message to come across in a mean way.
“ Mean? I don't think there are plenty of ways to be mean about the topic, and my values come up from a Christian perspective. I don't think a book about kids with a big imagination who wants to be a walrus is mean,” Humphrey says.
On his campaign website, Humphey says he is for “Protecting children by stopping the spread of radical gender ideology.” He says it is a not a message against Transgender students.
This is not something on the kids who are in a situation like that. This is about making sure that these kinds of issues and philosophies are not taught in the classroom," Humphrey said.
"The kids are already, you know, pressed for time to, to learn and to perform, and, and they're not doing great at that right now. So there's no reason to distract with this kind of thing in the classroom,” Humphrey said.
”It's not about, uh, the gender theory itself, but it's about keeping it out of the classrooms. On school board, we have limited purview, and that's what I'm focused on. I've got four kids that are going to be in public schools and keeping this out of the classroom,” Humphrey said.
The controversy has gotten national attention from LGBTQ+ freedom and anti-LGBTQ+ freedom groups.
